SURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS ACROSS SECTORS – WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE PREVENTION?

Session Objectives

While guidelines for preventing and managing surgical site infections in hospitals are in place in many countries there is still a need for guidance on how to deal with SSI management and prevention in community care. A set of recommendations on this topic covering primary as well secondary care, and targeting health care professionals in hospital as well as community based nurses and general practitioners (GPs), does not yet exist. EWMA has therefore decided to focus on surgical site infections (SSI) in a new project aiming to provide guidance on management of SSI across the primary and secondary health care sectors.

The main objective of the EWMA SSI project is to produce a document which:

• Map the SSI incidence, prevalence and high risk areas, based on published information and data available from SSI-registries.• Present the available modern techniques for prevention and treatment of surgical site infections, including assessment of cost effectiveness, patient mobility, pain etc.• Provide best practice recommendations for SSI management and prevention in hospitals and community care.

This key session will introduce the EWMA initiative and the current considerations concerning challenges and solutions in SSI management.